Don't even think about trying to pull one over on Homing Thistle. He's got a bead on you. He sees right through your facade. It's like he has a laser beam ... aimed at your soul.

Homing Thistle is a premiumplant that was released in the 2.9.1 update of Plants vs. Zombies 2. He attacks in a way similar to the Cattail, shooting spikes that home in (as the name implies) on the zombie nearest to the Player's House. However, Cattail shoots two spikes at a time, but each spike is only one damage per shot while Homing Thistle shoots one thistle instead, but each thistle deals two normal damage shots, and he is shot once a second. He now costs 109 gems. Like Cattail, Homing Thistle's attack is triggered by a zombie appearing in any lane.

In the 3.4.4 update of the game, the accuracy of Homing Thistle's attack was changed. Instead of every needle hitting the leftmost zombie, they are now much more inaccurate and will sometimes hit random zombies or even go off the lawn without hitting anything. Sometimes after he has destroyed a zombie, he will attack somewhere random, perhaps not hitting anything or damaging a gravestone.

Contents

Origins

Homing Thistle is based on thistles, a plant group known for their prickly leaves. His name is a combination of the aforementioned thistle and homing missile, a weapon that is known to target a location or object and adjust his trajectory in order to hit, a quality present in Homing Thistle's projectile.

Almanac entry

Homing Thistle

SUN COST

250

RECHARGE

Mediocre

SUN COST: 250
RECHARGE: Mediocre

TOUGHNESS

Typical

DAMAGE

Moderate

TOUGHNESS: Typical
DAMAGE: Moderate

RANGE

Full Board

RANGE: Full Board

Homing Thistles fire seeking shots at targets that are closest to home.

Range: anywhere on lawn

Don't even think about trying to pull one over on Homing Thistle. He's got a bead on you. He sees right through your facade. It's like he has a laser beam ... aimed at your soul.

Homing Thistle

SUN COST

250

RECHARGE

Mediocre

SUN COST: 250
RECHARGE: Mediocre

TOUGHNESS

Typical

DAMAGE

Moderate

TOUGHNESS: Typical
DAMAGE: Moderate

RANGE

Full Board

RANGE: Full Board

Homing Thistles fire seeking shots at targets that are closest to home.

Range: anywhere on lawn

Don't even think about trying to pull one over on Homing Thistle. He's got a bead on you. He sees right through your facade. It's like he has a laser beam ... aimed at your soul.

Upgrades

Plant Food effect

Homing Thistle spins relentlessly to unleash barrages of needles

When given Plant Food, it spins and shoots blue needles that target zombies on the screen or tombstones and any lawn obstacles if there are insufficient zombies. The blue projectiles deal 12 normal damage shots each, and they sometimes encircle zombies for a long period of time. If there are no zombies present on the screen, it will fire the projectiles in a spiral shape.

Costumed (China only)

It now mixes normal blue projectiles with fire projectiles, which do more damage, and ice projectiles, which slow zombies.

Level upgrade (China only)

Level

Upgrades

Description

Spiked Batter

Homing Thistle gains a 25% chance of firing two thistles at a time.

Combat Training

Homing Thistle gains 50% more attack power and health (150% of initial).

Strengthen Batter

Homing Thistle gains a 50% chance of firing two thistles at a time.

Cell Activation

Homing Thistle gains another 50% more attack power and health (200% of initial).

Ability Awaken

Homing Thistle may be boosted when planted.

Fighting Power

Homing Thistle gains another 50% more attack power and health (250% of initial).

Strategies

Homing Thistle, in groups, can thin out the ranks of lesser zombies very quickly and pile on damage on single targets, making them a good compliment to any offensive. Their flying thistles can target just about any enemy type from anywhere, including Snorkel Zombies while they are swimming, Prospector Zombies after they have jumped, and even Swashbuckler Zombies while they are swinging (the thistles will wait in ambush where they will land). Homing Thistle is also a good choice against Pirate Captain Zombie as a group of them can quickly kill his Zombie Parrot and prevent the plant from being stolen. Since they always target the enemy closest to the lawn mowers first, enemies closing in on the Player's House can expect to take additional damage even if their row is unoccupied.

Homing Thistle is also useful when only one or two Gargantuars are on screen, as five or more of them can easily overpower a Gargantuar. However, this is not advised when aside from the Gargantuars, there are other zombies on screen because the other zombies on screen might be closer to home than the Gargantuars are, letting the Gargantuars walk closer to your house.

Homing Thistle, however, requires mass planting for them to be effective by themselves, as groups of enemies with high toughness, such as Buckethead Zombies, can tank through a storm of thistles. This is complicated by their slow recharge time and, ironically, their priority on targets furthest ahead on the lawn, which often causes them to target lesser enemies while ignoring real threats like Buckethead Zombies, or especially high-level enemies such as Gargantuars or Wizard Zombies. If the player is using them exclusively as their only offense, it's best to support them with defensive plants such as Spikerock and Tall-nuts, while using plants such as Cherry Bombs, Chili Beans, Iceberg Lettuce, and similar plants to stall or pick off higher-level enemies.